A Witch needs her Cat
by FlammingAxel
Summary: Salem Drake is a lone sweeper. One day she encounters the infamous Black Cat who ends up killing her bounty. He ends up shooting her as well with the intent of killing her. She survives out of pure luck but is then called by her partner, Sven to come and treat an injured "friend" in need. That person also happens to be the same assassin who had shot her. TrainxOC
1. A Witch needs her Cat

A Witch needs her Cat

_I don't own Black Cat or any of its characters._

The train slightly shook as it rushed over the tracks towards its destination. Salem Drake, a young sweeper, sat with her chin resting on the palm of her hand as she gazed out the window, watching as the thick green of the forests rushed by the train. Her thoughts, not focusing on anything in particular, ran through her mind as she absent-mindedly pulled out an aged piece of paper from her hoodie's pocket. Her ocean blue orbs took a glance at the bounty paper. Brendon Stratford was her target. He was a murderer who had been wreaking havoc on a small and utterly defenceless town. The reward for his capture was 900 grand; a price that Salem just could not pass up. She scanned the face of her bounty one last time. His face seemed to be forever twisted into a dreadful scowl while his jet black pupils had a spark of evil and cruelty in them. His short auburn hair was a greasy mess in the picture that was on the bounty poster. His most distinctive features would have to be the multiple scars that cluttered his face, forming a few X shapes here and there. Just as Salem had stuffed the poster back into her pocket, the train began to slow down until it came to a full halt.

"We have arrived at our destination." Spoke a muffled voice in the speaker on the roof of the train.

Salem shot a short yet curious glance out the window hoping to get a good look at the town before grabbing hold of her backpack and swinging it over her shoulder. She waited patiently, allowing the other passengers to pass by (note that there was only two other passengers exiting the train) until she was the only one left. Salem scotched out of her seat and stepped off of the locomotive. Her blue eyes calmly shot in all directions as she inspected the town. It was quite small and underdeveloped, bearing very little vegetation since most of the forests ended a little ways down the road. Most of the town was dusted with pale, dry sand, giving it a very disserted look. There were very little houses, stores and restaurants. She could only manage to spot one small bar near the entrance of the town. As Salem looked around, she could spot very few people leaving there homes and being out and about. It wasn't much of a surprise however. She had heard from Annette that the town was very small and under-populated. Salem ran her hand through her short, pristine hair as she let out a short breath.

"Well this place looks pretty boring." Salem commented to herself.

The sweeper simply let out yet another sigh before walking towards the entrance to the bar. She gave the door a light push, hearing the ring of a bell as she stepped inside. The bar was fairly small just like the town. There were only four other people inside: two drunks, a lone man and the bartender. All eyes turned towards her as she casually walked over and took a seat on one of the barstools. The bartender, who was currently drying glasses with a rag, raised a fine brow as he gave the young sweeper a speculating look. His judgmental eyes continued to look her up and down until they had caught sight of the twin knives strapped on her thighs. His suspicion of her only deepened once he had seen her weapons.

"Can I...help you?" The bartender asked as he set down the glass that he had been over-excessively shining.

"Yeah, I was wondering if you could tell me anything about this guy." Salem replied before smacking the bounty poster onto the countertop. The man's eyes widened slightly upon realizing that she was actually a sweeper.

"You're a...sweeper?" The bartender question, disbelievingly.

"Yeah, isn't it obvious?" Salem asked, trying her hardest not to seem offended.

"Well...my apologies miss. It's just that...well I wasn't expecting a little girl to be a sweeper. Isn't the minimum age 15 years?" He asked, unaware of the nerve of anger that he had triggered in the young sweeper.

"What do you mean "_little girl_"?! I'm 18 years old, damn it!" Salem hissed glaring straight into the man's soul as if trying to burn him alive with her look. The man simply shrugged off the situation before returning to that request she had made earlier.

"So, you want to know more about your bounty, hm?" The white-haired sweeper nodded in response. The bartender began inspecting the picture of Brendon Stratford very intently while stroking his neatly trimmed beard. After inspecting the picture for a few more seconds, the bartender finally spoke.

"Yup, this guy is defiantly the scumbag that's been terrorizing this town. He's a ruthless murderer who only seems to strike at night. It's because of that fact that everyone in the whole town won't even so much as leave their windows open once the sun sets. There's been about three murders that we know of." He explained while the sweeper sat silently, absorbing every bit of information the bartender had to offer. Once she was sure that he had finished, Salem made a comment herself.

"I see...so he's a night crawler then."

"A night what?" He asked.

"It's an expression. A term used by some sweepers referring to a murderer who only attacks at night." Salem explained, matter-of-factly.

"Ah, I see—"He was interrupted by Salem as she pushed for more information.

"So do you know where he hides out during the day? Every night crawler has to have a hiding spot for when they're not active." The bartender lightly shook his head, unable to provide an answer for her question. The sweeper grabbed the bounty poster, stuffing it in her pocket once again. Salem's expression however, remained casual as she responded.

"I see...well thanks anyways." Just as Salem had gotten up to leave, the bartender spoke once more.

"Hold on. Alright, these are just rumors but...I heard that Brendon Stratford might be hiding out in the old abandoned church up the street a little ways. But like I said, it's just a rumor." Salem gave a cheeky grin in return as she turned on her heel.

"That's all I needed to hear." Was her response before she left the bar, hands in her pockets.

Salem exited the bar onto the main, sandy street of town. She shot a glance up at the sky as many shades of red, orange and pink began to coat the sky like a painting. She adjusted the straps on her backpack before heading down the street towards the old-looking church in the distance.

"Hmm...it would have been a lot better if I could catch this guy off guard during the day...but I guess it all has to do with timing." The sweeper thought aloud.

As she neared the church, the sky began to get darker and darker until the sky had become almost covered in a black, star-filled sky. She stopped to examine the church once she had reached it. There was thick green moss growing on every angle, the aged stones that built up the church looked as if they would crumble at any given minute and any stained glass that might have once stood firm, was in pieces on the ground. Overall, the place was very gloomy and eerie; a perfect hideout for a creepy criminal.

"Yeesh...guess this guy has the whole criminal hideout thing _down_. It just looks _so inviting._" Salem spoke sarcastically while looking the church up and down. For some reason, Salem was getting a very bad feeling about the place almost as if she really shouldn't go inside because something bad might happen. No...more like something terrible. Unfortunately, she couldn't just walk away because she was getting a bad feeling. That criminal was terrorizing that town and had murdered three innocent people just because he enjoyed it, just because he liked to see the blood of the innocent dripping through his fingers.

"_Of course...I too did that once... but I haven't killed anyone for three years now..." _Salem thought to herself as her eyes slowly moved towards the ground. Her face twisted into a grimace as a painful memory of her days as a mercenary reappeared in her mind.

"_No...never again. I...I promised Madison."_ Salem vigorously shook her head as if it were a method of getting rid of bad thoughts. She brought her attention back to the matter at hand, looking back up at the church before walking towards the door that looked to be broken in two. She hopped over the ruined wood, landing steadily onto her feet. Salem took a look around, taking in all of her surroundings. Any remnants of furniture were all rotted or destroyed. The church was filled with darkness, the only light source being the silver light of the now clearly visible moon. The moonlight shone through all of the cracks and holes that existed in the old building. After a bit of examination, Salem's eyes met with a long staircase leading upwards. The stairs were just as rotted as the rest of the church and could defiantly have gone for a bit of restoration. The sweeper walked towards the stairs, giving them a sceptical look.

"Well _these_ look safe." She commented, her words dripping with sarcasm.

Before Salem could move any further towards the staircase, a bone-chilling scream of fright echoed down the stairwell and throughout the rest of the church. Without thinking first, Salem dropped her backpack to the ground and dashed up the rickety stairs, ignoring all of the creaks coming from beneath her feet. Halfway up the stair case, Salem pulled both her knives from their holsters, readying herself for a battle. Just as she had managed to reach the top part of the church, there was a loud rattling gunfire, almost resembling that of a hissing cat. Her ocean eyes widened at the horrific sight before her. There was a man clad in black holding a unique gun while another fell to the floor, crimson blood surrounding his head. There was no mistake that the black-clad man had shot Salem's bounty, Brendon Stratford, straight in the head. And what was even more disturbing was that he had not even blinked while doing so. His cold expression remained the same even after the deed was done. Out of rage and adrenalin, Salem came up behind the black-clad man, holding one of her knives to her throat while the other's tip pointed at the back of his neck.

"You...killed my bounty." She stated with look of pure anger. "Who are you? No _normal_ citizen goes around killing people...even if they do deserve to die." Salem spoke calm yet venomous way. She waited patiently for a response which she did not receive. Instead, the man slowly turned his head in order to look at her. The light of the moon seemed to reflect perfectly off of his golden eyes. Salem however, kept a stern look on her face as she stared straight into his eyes.

"_Normal_ citizens don't go around wielding knives either." He responded. His voice was calm but had a certain distant and coldness to it, one of which sent chills slithering down Salem's spine. Her look hardened once he spoke. She was not up to taking crap from a murderer whom she had just met.

"Sorry...but murder is a crime...so I'm going to have to turn you in." Salem said with a little bit too much enjoyment laced in her voice as an uncontrollable smirk played onto her features. It wasn't exactly a _crime_ to be sadistic; it was just the way she lived. What could she say? She loved a good fight, that is if this man was willing to fight for his escape or if he was just going to simply give up. Judging by his performance of "taking care" of her bounty, Salem doubted that it would be the latter. Just as she had presumed, the man jumped into the air, slipping away from her so fast that her eyes had almost missed his movement. He wasted no time, shooting a bullet straight towards her. The speed of the bullet had caught her off guard as her block was a rather slow one which allowed the bullet to penetrate the skin on her shoulder. Thankfully her pathetic block had managed to send the bullet off of its course towards her heart and land in her upper shoulder, not striking anything important but she still winced from the painful contact.. To make up for her slow reaction, Salem went for a head on strike just as the man had landed on the ground. She slashed her right knife while her left went for a stab to the shoulder. Both of her attacks were in vain as he swiftly jumped backwards while shooting another bullet. This bullet, Salem had managed to deflect with her left knife while throwing her right knife at him out of pure adrenaline. The attack managed to catch him slightly off guard by grazing the skin on his right arm. The only down side to that attack was that she was left with only one knife to defend and attack with. The man shot another bullet before running towards her after she had managed to deflect it. Salem took the opportunity to slash him, hoping to get him down the torso. He blocked her knife with his gun, causing the two to be very close as they each struggled to send each other's weapon out of their hand. In the few moments that they were close to each other, Salem had managed to get a glimpse of the roman numeral on his chest. XIII. The sweeper's eyes widened as she realized who she was actually battling.

"Thirteen?! Then that means...!" She breathed, unable to finish her sentence as the _assassin_ managed to overpower her and send her knife flying out of her hand.

Struck defenceless, Salem had no time to react as the Black Cat himself shot a bullet straight through her chest. The burning pain of the metal tearing through anything in its way made her grimace as she struggled to keep her balance. Salem's back roughly fell to the cold wall as she clutched her shoulder, grunting with pain. She slowly slid down, leaving a trail of dark crimson on the wall until her butt met the floor. Once she had gained the strength to look at her attacker once more, he had already vanished from the scene. Just like that, Salem had been shot down by the top assassin from Chronos, the one that everyone feared...Black Cat.

Salem put a halt on her thoughts, realizing that if she waited any longer than she would simply bleed to death. Salem slowly looked down at her bleeding wound. The first bullet that she was shot with was not very deep inside her flesh and was not bleeding too much. Her other wound on the other hand was bleeding severely, seeping through her grey hoodie and between her fingers. That bullet would have gone straight through her heart if not for her moving to the right slightly at the very last second. She had a nick for dodging quickly but Black Cat was truly amazing if he could manage to wound her like that. It seemed as though he really did live up to his reputation. Salem slowly turned her head towards the abandoned knife that Black Cat had hit out of her hand. Using her unharmed arm, she reached over and wrapped her slender fingers around it. She stared at the weapon as if the whole mess was its fault before hesitantly bringing the blade towards her chest and cutting open part of her sweater, exposing her wounded shoulder. Salem bit down on her lip as she dug the blade into the wound, carfully moving it around, letting out a few stifled grunts of agony. The knife made the burning pain even worse despite how carfully she dug out the bullet. Finally after what felt like hours, she had finally managed to salvage the bullet and let it fall to the ground. After the bullet was out she began to pant, desperately trying to refill her dry lungs with oxygen. The sweeper sent a vengeful glare towards the bullet that now lay on the floor, drenched in her blood.

"_That _damn _assassin. This would have been a hell of a lot easier if he hadn't shown up. I could have turned this criminal in and been eating away all of my reward by treating myself to a fancy dinner...but instead I'm here digging bullets out of my shoulder!" _She thought to herself as she proceeded to dig the other bullet out which was considerably easier and a lot more bearable.

Once she had managed to remove both bullets, Salem reached into her pocket and pulled out a small roll of bandages that she kept on her at all times in case of emergency. The young sweeper began wrapping up her shoulder as fast as she could so not to allow anymore blood to seep from her wounds. She made sure to wrap them as tightly as she could without going over her limit for comfort. Unfortunately, Salem had lost a bit more blood than she had expected. Just as she finished wrapping up her wound, her head began to spin while her surroundings became a blobby mess of blurs. Before she could do anything else, the white-haired girl had blacked out.

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Once he had managed to make his escape from the top of the church, Train stopped for a moment of rest. He glanced at the arm that the sweeper had managed to graze. In fact, it wasn't much of a graze anymore, by then it could be classified as cut or slash. It was even deep enough to allow blood to trickle down his sleeve and drip onto the stone floor. It had been quite a while since Train had fought anyone who could manage to actually hit him in such a way. That girl was quite fast...and skilled. Though Train still wasn't quite sure what she was supposed to be. If you had a weapon then that would usually mean that you were a criminal or an assassin but that girl had spoken of "turning him in". She had also mentioned something about him killing her "bounty". Could she of been some sort of bounty hunter? Just as Train was about to leave, he stumbled upon a small black backpack that had been abandoned on the floor. He guessed that it had probably belonged to that girl he just met. The backpack had a small black cat keychain and a compass connected to the top strap of the bag. Normally Train took no interest in things such as that but for some reason there was something urging him to search the bag. After a few more moments of consideration, Train grabbed hold of the bag and unzipped it. He began rummaging through the contents, occasionally pulling an item out in order to have a better look at it.

The items he had found consisted of a deck of tarot cards, hair gel, a black sweatshirt, a first aid kit, a sketch pad and a few other female products that Train was greatly displeased in touching. All in all the items in the bag held no interest to him. That is until he found a small picture at the bottom of the bag. The corners were folded over while the small rectangular photograph was covered in many folds and wrinkles but the image still stood strong. The photo was of the same girl he had encountered only she looked different in the picture. She wore a baggy red tank top with a pair of large denim shorts on. Her hair was still in the same spiked style as it was when he met her only her black bangs were green in the picture. She stood next to a smiling elderly woman who was a great deal shorter than her with a hunched back. The old woman had her long grey hair tied tightly into a bun while her clothing consisted of a long skirt, slippers and a knitted sweater. The girl had her hand resting on the old woman's shoulder while she too smiled but her smile was different from the old woman's. Her smile was very subtle, almost as if it weren't even there. Her smile had a sort of unique beauty and warmness to it while at the same time, it was carefree and calm. It was defiantly not a smile that just _any_ girl could pull off. Her smile was like no other, it was able to show that that girl was sincere but it also gave off the kind of vibe that she was trying to heal herself and leave the past behind. It was amazing how much you could learn from her smile alone. Something about her, though he was not sure what, just made Train feel drawn to her. He just couldn't manage to peel his eyes away from the picture, feeling as though he could simply stare at it all day.

Train finally managed to tear his eyes away as he flipped the picture over, reading the date it was taken. The picture had been taken a year ago but there was something else written on the back as well in neat cursive writing. It read:

"_Please return soon, missy. Love Madison and Grandma Luci" _

It said "missy". Train doubted that that was the girl's name but for now, it would do.

"Missy..." Train repeated, absentmindedly. Train shut his mouth as realization struck him. He was staring at a picture of a girl he had just pretty much _killed._ There was no use in dwelling over the matter any longer. After all, he had wasted enough time already by staring at the silly thing. Train's intent was to drop the picture and forget that the whole thing ever happened but for some reason, his body disobeyed him by shoving the picture into his inner coat pocket. He truly was unsure as to why he was planning on keeping the picture. It was such a stupid and useless thing to carry around...and yet...he still held onto it even after leaving the town and the girl's body behind.

**Author's note: Well that is the first chapter of my story **** please tell me what you think, reviews are greatly appreciated!**

**~FlammingAxel**


	2. A healing Witch

The healing Witch

_I don't own Black Cat or any of its characters._

_Salem lazily dragged her feet on the wood flooring of the Cait Sith Cafe. After two train rides, she had finally managed to make it there without dying of hunger or in more realistic terms, fainting. She had attracted a lot of attention while on the trains but it wasn't hard to believe. Both her hand and shoulder were still stained with her blood and her sweater was torn on her shoulder which exposed the very source of the blood so it was pretty obvious that most people would be staring at her. As Salem had just managed to walk a little further into the bar, she was stopped by the sound of a familiar voice._

"_What happened to you? You look like you just got run over by a truck or something." The voice was undoubtedly Annette. Only Annette would say something so insensitive to a severely wounded person._

_Salem slowly turned her head towards the former sweeper with an exhausted look in her eyes, clearly showing that she was not up to getting into full details of her sad defeat._

"_I had a run in with Black Cat...you know, the Chronos number?" Salem replied in an annoyed tone of voice. "He killed my bounty, nearly killed _me_ in the process." Annette did a simple "Hm." in reply as if completely uncaring of the young sweeper's situation. Salem's head hung in response to Annette's reaction._

"_Damn, you can be such an uncaring old broad."_

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Salem lay awake in the bed that Annette had offered her. The bright rays of sun leaked through the thin blinds of the window, providing a good amount of light for Salem to see. Annette had offered her that guest room to stay in until she was healed. An entire week of painkillers, bandages and sleeping had gone by but none of it was a waste, of course. All of the things that Salem had done the past week were really beginning to pay off. She was already almost healed; in fact she could probably get back to work right after she ate something. Salem pushed herself in an upright position in order to stretch and examine her wound. The bandages were still good for another day or so which meant that she didn't have to worry about changing them. Salem got off the bed and moved towards the chair that had her backpack lying on it. She opened it up and pulled out her extra black sweatshirt, slipping it on. She went in front of the mirror to be the judge of her look. She wore her black sweatshirt (with the hood baring kitty ears), long black leggings that stopped at her mid shin, denim shorts on top and a pair of grey converse. It's true, she wasn't much for colour but she honestly didn't care how she looked. After passing off her look as decent, the white-haired girl zipped up her backpack and swung it over her shoulder before exiting the room.

She made her way down the stairs and into the bar area where Annette stood, cleaning dishes. Salem hopped onto a bar stool, spinning around in it a few times just because before steadying herself in order to face Annette.

"Well _you_ seem to be feeling better." The blonde woman commented while exhaling a puff of smoke.

"Yup, I'm a real miracle worker when it comes to medical treatment." Salem spoke as a wolfish grin tugged on the corners of her mouth.

"Well don't go overestimating yourself or next time you really _will_ be killed." She said in a tone that a parent might use when speaking to their troublesome child.

"Yeah, yeah I know." Salem replied while waving her hand, gesturing her to drop the subject before starting a new one.

"So, Annette, how's your life been? You find a boyfriend yet?" Salem asked, the wolfish grin still attached to her face.

"No and I don't plan to."

"Oh c'mon! Everyone gets lonely, Annette, plus your already 44! You're no spring chicken anymore, I mean in a few years you'll be _Grandma Annette._ Just imagine how hard it'll be for you to find someone then, hm?" Salem's words had triggered a beating vain of anger in Annette who managed to reply quite fast.

"What about you? Your turning 19 soon and yet you haven't even gone on a single date and the only friends that you seem to have is Sven." The sweeper kissed her teeth in distaste as she gave Annette a glare. She opened her mouth to retort but was interrupted by the ringtone of her cell phone going off. She pulled the dark blue phone out of her pocket, glancing at the caller ID.

"Hey, it's Sven." Salem spoke before flipping the phone open and holding it to her ear.

"Hey, Sven what's up?"

"_Look, Salem, I don't have much time right now. Where are you?" He spoke in a very rushed, almost worried tone._

"Um, I'm at Annette's cafe, why?"

"_Okay, I need you to meet me at my house as soon as possible."_

"Well...okay but Sven, what's this all about?"

"_Look I'll explain later just hurry." _And with that, the sweeper on the other line hung up. Salem pulled the now beeping phone away from her ear, pressing the "End call" button.

"So what'd he have to say?" Asked Annette, curiously.

"Well...he said that I had to meet him at his house as soon as possible. He sounded pretty worried over something..." Salem muttered the last part to herself as she put away her phone. After a moment of consideration, the young sweeper shook away her thoughts before sliding off of the stool.

"I better go. It sounded to me like he was calling me about something important. If I'm to get there quickly, I guess I'll just have to hitchhike." Salem wasted no time as she adjusted the straps of her backpack and made her way to the door. Just as she placed her hand on the doorknob, she was interrupted by Annette calling her back.

"Hold up. Here, take this." The blonde woman said as she tossed something towards Salem. Salem quickly caught it in her hand without the need to turn around. She opened her hand, examining what she had been given. It was a small key ring with only one key dangling onto it. Salem sent the former sweeper a questionable look.

"So help me, if I find as much as a scratch on the vehicle then you're _dead_, got it?" Upon realizing what she had been given, a large grin swept over Salem's features as she nodded her head.

"Thanks, Annette. And don't worry; I'll take good care of your car!" Salem spoke, enthusiastically before exiting the cafe and walking towards the parking lot.

She managed to spot Annette's vehicle quite easily considering that Annette was the one who taught her how to drive in the first place. She ran towards the car, unlocked it and hopped inside. Salem shoved the key in the ignition, grinning wildly as she heard the loud rumbling of the purring engine. She did not bother hanging around to listen to the engine as Salem drove out of the parking lot and onto the road that would lead to Sven's house. It did not take her too long to arrive at Sven's house. It took her less than an hour (mostly because of the fact that she was speeding). She was unfortunately forced to slow down once the car began driving over the very rugged, uneven road towards Sven's home. Soon the thick forest that she had been driving through began to clear up until she reached a clearing where a small log cabin-like house stood. Salem parked Annette's car behind Sven's vehicle and got out, taking a deep breath of air while stretching out her legs. The white-haired sweeper took a look around, admiring the beautiful scenery that surrounded the cabin. Salem had almost hit herself on the head upon realizing that she was wasting time. Sven had called her there for an important reason and yet she was standing there looking at trees.

The young sweeper jogged towards the short flight of wooden stairs. She approached the door, originally intending on walking right in but she felt that it might be better for her to knock instead. She firmly hammered her fist onto the door, waiting patiently for a few moments for Sven to open it. Finally someone had opened the door, only...it was not Sven. A young girl who looked to be about 10 or 11, stood at the door. She had long blonde hair that almost reached to floor and dark pink eyes. The small stuffed animal she had tucked under one arm, blended perfectly with her long black dress. Salem blinked at the sight of the young girl. She was sure that Sven did not have a daughter and Salem was absolutely positive that this was the right house...so who the heck was this girl? Finally after a long period of silence, Salem spoke.

"Uh, hi there...my name's Salem, what's yours?" She asked while bending down slightly in order to be at eye level with the girl.

She tried her best to sound friendly and unintimidating, especially because of the fact that the little girl was staring straight at the knives strapped to her thighs. Instead of receiving a response, the small blonde turned around and ran into one of the rooms. Salem could feel a bead of sweat slowly make its way down her head as she watched the girl disappear somewhere in the house.

"Um...okay?" Just as the young sweeper had spoken, the same girl walked out of the room she had previously ran into, holding onto Sven's hand. Salem felt a wave of relief wash over her as she heard Sven speak. Finally someone she recognized.

"No, no, Eve. She's not a ghost, she just bleaches her hair white." Said Sven as his visible eye went from Eve to Salem. "Thanks for coming, Salem."

"It's no problem but...Sven, what did you need me for? Who is that girl?" Salem questioned, gesturing to the young blonde next to him.

"This here is Eve. I'll tell you about her later but right now I'll get straight to the point. I called you here because there's someone who needs immediate medical attention. I'm afraid that if he doesn't get treated soon, he might not make it. I knew that you, of all people would be able to handle the situation the best." Sven explained in a very serious tone of voice. Salem nodded, displaying her understanding of the situation.

"All right, bring me to him then." Sven gestured towards a closed door, leading to the guest bedroom. "He's in there."

Salem walked down the hall, stopping in front of the closed door. She turned the handle and pushed the door open. As she entered, the first sight that caught her attention was the unconscious form that lay limp on the bed. Salem stood, frozen in place as she examined the figure more closely. He seemed familiar from a far but it did not take Salem very long to realize who was lying in the bed. "_Black Cat..."_ Her calm expression had turned blank as she slowly stepped out of the room, slamming the door behind her in such speed and force, the whole cabin practically shook. Her actions caused Sven to jump slightly as he spoke in a louder voice.

"Hey, what's wrong?!"

"What is _HE_ doing here?" Salem asked, spitting the word "he" as if it were a disgusting term.

"W-what do you mean?" Sven asked, confusion laced into his voice.

"You know what I mean. He's an assassin. He works for Chronos, just think of all the innocent people he's killed and yet here he is in your house while you ask me to treat him? No frigging way." Salem refused as she turned on her heel and started for the door.

"So...that's it? You're just going to let him die? I thought you said that you would use your medical knowledge to help people not leave them for dead. That's what sweepers do, we help people, isn't that right?" Sven said, his words causing Salem to stop dead in her tracks as if acting as a barrier between her and the door. He was right. When she became a sweeper she said that she would use her medical skill to help people while using her skill in battle to catch her bounties. As much as she hated having to do this, Salem knew that it would be wrong of her to simply leave that assassin to suffer mostly because she was still mad at him for shooting her and killing her bounty (which she wasn't planning on informing Sven of). Not before long, the pristine-haired girl finally gave a sigh of defeat as she sent a death glare over her shoulder.

"Fine..." She barked while turning around once again and making her way towards the door that she had slammed shut. Salem stomped into the room and threw her bag onto the nearest chair. A small smile snuck its way onto Sven's face as he watched the teen roll up her sleeves in preparation to begin. He turned his attention towards Eve before speaking in a hushed tone.

"Hey Eve, why don't you go in there and give Salem a hand? I'm sure she'd appreciate the help." The sweeper suggested, receiving a simple "Okay" as Eve entered the room. Sven knew that no matter how much Salem tried to hide it, she had a very huge caring side to her. A personality most would describe as "tsundere".

The young blonde slowly walked up behind Salem who was now pulling the first aid kit from her bag. At first, Salem had not even realized the extra person in the room until she glanced behind her.

"Oh...uh, hey there." She spoke, unsure of what to say while turning around to face Eve.

"Sven said that I should help you." She stated in a monotone voice.

"Is that so? Well okay, Eve. To start off, do you think you could help me sit him up so that I can take off his shirt?" Eve nodded before setting her stuffed cat onto the table and standing next to Salem, awaiting further instruction.

The two began to pulling him up until he rested in a slumped over upright position.

"Okay, support his back for me please." Eve did so while Salem proceeded to gently unbutton his grey dress shirt. She carefully removed it and threw onto the floor, uncaring if the fabric got dirtied or ruined. It wasn't _her_ shirt so therefore not her problem. Her ocean blue eyes began scanning his torso which had been quite badly burned and/or cut in some areas. He also seemed to have obtained a bad cut and slight bruising in his head. All in all he had been pretty beaten up which was more than enough to please this sweeper. She began to treat the wounds by applying alcohol and other healing medications. Luckily, none of his cuts required stitches which just made her job a lot easier. All the way through the process, Eve had been very helpful in handing her things that she needed and even applying medication as well.

"Okay, now we have to put on the bandages. Think you can help me?" The blonde nodded in response, just as she had been anytime Salem would ask something of her.

"Great, pass me the bandages please." Salem said, politely. Eve scurried towards the table where the first aid kit sat, returning with the bandages in-hand. The teen took the bandages from her before beginning to wrap them around every wounded area that had been treated already. After that had been done, Salem picked up his shirt from the floor and slid it back on him. She took a step back to somewhat admire her work. She had done a flawless job, thanks to Eve's help.

Salem glanced towards said blonde and gave her a smirk.

"Well, you did good, Eve. We're going to have to keep an eye on him, though...and change his bandages every two days. Do you...think you can handle that?" Salem asked, her head turning towards the young girl that she was speaking to.

"Yes." Eve replied, for once not simply nodding while she continued to stare at the assassin. There was a short moment of silence as Salem stared done at Eve, a look of seriousness replacing her grin. She had still not learned who eve was yet. It was defiantly a strange chain of events. A strange girl with Sven while Chronos' top assassin dwelled in his house, now in the midst of healing? It was all very strange and confusing for her. The short blanket of silence was finally broken by Salem as she turned on her heel to leave.

"Right...well look after him for me. I'll be right back; I just have to ask Sven something." And with that being said, the teen exited the room, making her way towards the green-haired sweeper who stood in the kitchen preparing a meal, unaware of Salem who had now taken a seat in one of the chairs at the table.

"...So tell me, Sven. Who is that girl and why is Black Cat here?" Salem questioned in a straight-to-the-point tone, without sparing even so much as a glance his way. There was a moment of silence before Sven replied, still in the middle of cooking.

"Right...I guess I owe you an explanation. Well...here it goes." Sven explained everything in full detail to his partner. He explained who Eve was and why she was with him and explained why Black Cat was laying, injured in the guest room. All the while, Salem sat quietly as she absorbed every little detail without making a single interruption. Once Sven had finished his explanation, Salem rested her chin on her palm while she slowly closed her eyes.

"...I see. Well, it sounds like _somebody_ had a rough week, hm?" Salem spoke, her look of seriousness still remaining. She was honestly surprised to hear that her friend had experienced all of that in one week. She was also quite surprised to hear that that young girl was actually a bio weapon. It was a little hard to believe but Salem was mostly worried over the fact that Chronos was still after that girl which, in other words meant that they were in a lot of trouble. Screwing with Chronos will usually end up getting you _dead_.

"Yeah, tell me about it." Sven said in an exhausted tone as he threw himself onto the chair across from her.

"Still...this is pretty serious, Sven. Chronos is probably going to send their top dogs after you; it won't be long before they find us." Salem said as she opened her eyes to look at her partner.

"Yeah, I know but for now we should just lay low and hope that nothing bad happens."

"And that assassin...what do you plan to do with him? If it was his mission to kill Eve, who's to say he won't try it again?"

"C'mon, Salem, give the guy a break. Like I said before, he had the perfect opportunity to kill Eve but instead he just walked away."

"Yeah, well did you ever think that maybe he let her go 'cause she has a cute face?" Salem retorted.

"Calm down, I think we'll be safe." Sven replied as he got out of the chair to finish what he had started. Salem glared at his back, very unsatisfied with the way he had simply shrugged off the point she was trying to get across to him.

"Eve, brunch is ready!" Sven called out as he finished displaying the pancakes he had made onto three separate plates.

Before long, Eve stepped into the kitchen, clutching onto a thick book that looked to be way beyond her level. She walked over to the table and took a seat across from Salem. Sven placed the plates down on the table; one in front of Salem, one in front of Eve and the other in from t of himself. Sven was the first to dig in while Eve simply stared straight at Salem. The white-haired sweeper took notice, glancing towards her.

"Uh, something wrong, Eve?" Eve did not respond. "Eve?" Salem tried again.

"Blood. I smell blood on your hands." Her empty words managed to catch Sven's attention as his gaze switched from Eve to Salem who simply grinned in response. "Is that so...well you've got a good nose. Though you may not see the blood...it's still there." Salem replied, striking her partner with confusion before beginning to cut into her own pancakes and eat.

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The whole day went by quite slowly, the sky now turning a beautiful pink-orange colour. Sven kept busy by doing work around the house while Eve sat in the kitchen and read. Salem had been left with the unfortunate duty of watching over Black Cat. An hour had gone by of her simply slouching in a chair, occasionally glancing at the unconscious assassin. Salem decided to make the best of her time by drawing in her sketch book. She flipped to a blank page after pulling out a sketching pencil from her backpack's front pocket. Salem stared down at the mockingly plain sheet of white, having no idea what to draw. She shot a few glances around the room in search of inspiration until her ocean blue orbs landed right on Black Cat. Her intense gaze was glued to him as she had a mental argument with herself over whether or not to draw him. Though despite her strong will telling her not to draw him and simply find something else...she had to admit that he had a pretty handsome face. It looked so peaceful and undisturbed while he slept, it would be such a nice thing to draw. Her opposing side unfortunately lost the battle as she began moving her pencil to capture every curve, line and detail of his face onto the paper. The drawing had taken her four full hours until it had finally become complete but upon completion the young sweeper had allowed sleep to overcome her.

**Author's note: Well, I had nothing else to do so I just wrote another chapter...yay! ****Sarcasm**

**Anyways, review if you want or whatever, but they do make my day :3**

**~FlammingAxel**


	3. An ignoring Witch

An ignoring Witch

_I don't own Black Cat or any of its characters_

Salem tapped her index finger in an impatient manner, somewhat of a habit that had formed over the years. The aroma of the breakfast Sven was preparing seeped into her nose which she gladly welcomed. Salem was quite hungry and since she had nothing better to do, sitting in the kitchen and waiting for the food like a hungry child was the only thing that she could do. While she did so, using her other hand, Salem tossed one of her knives up and down in the air, catching it by the hilt each time. She let her boredom-filled eyes drupe shut as she half whined to her partner.

"Sven, is the food ready yet?" She asked. Said sweeper, still busy over the stove answered her in a tone that one would address a child with.

"You asked me that five minutes ago and the answer is still the same. It'll be ready in a few minutes or so." He answered while shuffling the pan over the burner a bit. "And can you please stop tossing the knife around, it's making me nervous." Sven requested while sending a stern glance back at Salem who continued to half-heartedly toss her knife up and down.

"Relax; I have full control over my own weapon." Salem responded, slightly annoyed.

Just as she had spoken, Eve hurried into the kitchen, wasting not even a second before speaking.

"The assassin came back to life." She stated in her usual monotone. Despite her naturally hushed and empty voice, she had managed to startle the teen sweeper. Her eyes grew wide for a split second until she realized that her knife was still falling, waiting to be caught. She quickly made a swipe for it but missed, causing the blade to dig into the wood of the floor only three millimetres from her own foot. Salem paid no mind to the knife that had almost stabbed her and turned her gaze to the blonde who had already grabbed hold of Sven's hand and began to pull him out of the room.

"He what now?" Salem spoke, mostly to herself considering the two had already exited the kitchen.

Her blue orbs stared burning holes at the open doorway as she remained seated in the kitchen. It was not long until she stood from her chair and followed suit out of pure curiosity. It wasn't like she cared about that damned assassin or anything. He could never wake up for all she cared; after all, she and Eve went through hell nursing the guy back to health for an entire week. Salem was the one that was stuck babysitting him most of the time anyway. Sven said that since she was the one that never had anything better to do out of the three, that she was the best candidate for the job. Lucky for her, Eve had agreed to watch over him for today or more like she volunteered to that is. Despite being a bio weapon, Eve was actually a very kind girl.

Salem approached the door and stepped behind Sven who was currently blocking the entrance. She managed to peer over his shoulder at the assassin who was now awake. He threw his hands behind his head before falling back to the bed, muttering the words "I don't remember." as he shut his eyes and turned his back to the three of them. Sven and Eve exchanged looks before retreating back to the kitchen. Salem however, stood firmly where she was, only moving once to step further into the room. Her dark eyes remained glued to her back. The assassin was clearly unaware of her presence for at least a minute or two until he glanced behind him, catching sight of the one who had been staring at him the whole time. His look remained the same whereas in his mind he was truly caught off guard by the appearance of the sweeper that he had thought to be dead. There clashing eyes proceeded to stare right through one another.

"You're the sweeper." He muttered with a slight hint of unmasked surprise in his tone.

"And you're the assassin." Salem replied. He simply turned himself back into his previous position on the bed, clearly unamused by her wit.

"Didn't I kill you already?" He spoke coldly. Instead of allowing herself to get angry or worked up over his words, Salem simply smiled and answered him.

"Or so you thought...but I find that it's a lot harder to die when you have something to live for. Everyone has something, whether it be themselves or perhaps a loved one. Even a cold-blooded killer such as yourself has something...even if you haven't found it yet." Salem spoke while unconsciously tapping the hilt of the knife that she didn't abandon in the kitchen.

"...Even if you do have something to live for...it doesn't change the fact that you can still _die_." The assassin spoke as if he were addressing a naive child.

"...True enough..." The pristine-haired sweeper replied as her smile fell.

"Time to eat!" Sven called from the other room, catching the attention of Salem whose head whirled towards the direction of the voice. Not soon after, both Sven and Eve entered the room carrying four trays of breakfast in total.

Eve placed the two trays she was carrying on the table while Salem took one of the trays Sven was carrying, off his hands. Salem dropped into a chair while setting the food onto the surface in front of her. The assassin sat up just before Sven had placed a tray onto his lap. Afterwards, the sweeper joined his companions at the table to begin eating along with them. The only one who was not eating was of course, Black Cat.

"C'mon, don't let it get cold, I worked hard on that." Sven said, taking notice of the motionless young man.

"Where's my gun?" His blunt question caused Salem's hand to jolt towards the handle of her knife, yet another terrible habit of hers.

"Go on, Eve, give him his gun back." Sven spoke as he glanced at Eve. Salem shot a disapproving look towards her partner who seemed to ignore her clear displeasure. Eve shook her head before speaking.

"It's still there; the smell of blood is all over him." Eve stood from her chair, making her way towards Black Cat. She held out the stuffed cat that she had been so attached to for the entire week. Her actions made Salem question what she was thinking. "This is for you from the children; your gun...stays with me."

After taking the stuffed animal, he stared at its huge, round eyes for a long while until Sven decided to stand up himself and hold his hand out to the young man.

"Put 'er there. Since we're all kind of stuck here, we might as well make the best of it. You think that you and I can be friends?" Sven offered. Black Cat glanced at his outstretched hand for a moment before averting his gaze and carelessly tossing the stuffed cat over his shoulder.

Salem silently shook her head at his response. "_Idiot..._"

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After breakfast, Sven and Eve had gone outside to chop some firewood...or more like Sven chopped the firewood while Eve read her books. While the two of them were discussing the matter of the assassin, they were unaware of the other sweeper lounging on the roof above them. She listened closely on their conversation, all the while, swinging and fiddling with her knife. After she had heard Eve say something about putting a bell on a bad cat, Sven spoke up.

"Hey, now that I think about it, have you seen Salem anywhere?" Sven questioned as he glanced at the surrounding area. Just as he did so, Salem spoke up, sharing her own thoughts that she had kept silent for the entire time.

"That assassin is a fool of he thinks he can get away with treating us and our offers like that." The sudden, harsh voice startled Sven, causing him to jump slightly before yelling back up at the source of the voice.

"Gah! Salem, don't sneak up on me like that!" Sven yelled, wide-eyed. Salem remained unfazed by his reaction, continuing her little rant.

"Doesn't he know how the world works? If you don't repay with gratitude then there will be _severe _consequences." She tossed her knife into the air one last time before catching it with ease. The green-haired sweeper regained his posture as a bead of sweat rolled down his head.

"Right, and which world are you referring to? Yours or the one we live in?" Sven asked. Salem swiftly jumped from the roof, landing firmly on the grass as she slid her small blade back into its holster. She yet again, ignored Sven and turned her attention to the stack of books that sat on the porch. She examined their spines, reading every name of every book.

"You know, Sven...don't you think that textbooks would be more helpful and informative to Eve rather than cookbooks and fables?" She asked, reading over the titles once again. She did not receive a response from her partner; rather a simple half-lidded glance of displeasure.

"I don't get you sometimes." He stated while shaking his head and closing his eyes.

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Salem stood next to Eve as the two peered into the open car window. The sky had already been painted over with orange and pink by the time Sven had decided to leave. Eve stood with a sour face as if she had just eaten a bag of sour candies all at once.

"Watch over him for me, will ya? I have to go pick up some smokes and burgers." Sven said while sticking the key into the ignition and starting the car. Eve let out a barely auditable growl as she glared at the ground. Salem on the other hand, bared a nonchalant look despite being a just as displeased with the whole situation as the young blonde next to her. "Drop the sour face, it's not like I can leave him alone like that, tell you what, I'll buy you something, anything you want, name it." Sven offered, obviously to Eve rather than the both of them. Eve finally returned her gaze to the sweeper and answered very quickly and straight to the point.

"Books. More books."

"Books, you got it." Sven spoke, returning his attention to the car as he prepared to drive.

"While you're at it, can you get me some coffee, milk, popsicles and those weird cookies that I like?" Salem requested while hitting her hand on the low roof of the car.

"Look, I'm only going out to get a few things, not a shopping spree." Salem only grinned in return.

"Thanks, Sven, you're the best!" The young sweeper said, fake enthusiasm leaking from every syllable.

Sven merely sighed in defeat. He hated when she ignored him. Afterwards, Sven finally drove out of the driveway, the two girls he left behind watching as the vehicle made its way down the dirt road and out of sight. Salem's glance ventured done to the short bio weapon that stood next to her. She parted her lips to speak but was interrupted by Eve's sudden movement. She turned on her heel and made her way back into the house. Salem's gaze remained on Eve until she was completely out of sight.

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Salem's index finger began tapping on her thigh as her eyes and attention remained glued to the cartoon that was playing on the television. She had been sitting in the guest room with the assassin for at least an hour. The sun had long but disappeared behind the horizon and the silver moon had already shown itself. Salem loved cartoons and was quite relieved to see that the assassin didn't seem to mind them either. The young sweeper glanced at him from the corner of her eye. His position had changed from sitting to a funny looking lounging one. His funny position managed to jog Salem's memory of the one movie she had watched a while back about some sinking ship. It reminded her of the scene where the Rose girl had allowed her lover to draw her nude since he seemed to be perfectly mimicking the posture, plus...he defiantly had the legs for it.

"_Draw me like one of your French girls."_ She rephrased the line from the movie, causing a slight giggle to escape her lips. As inaudible as she may have made it, the giggle had still caught the attention of the other person in the room.

"What's so funny?" He inquired in his usual stoic and cold tone.

"_Sheesh, looks like Black Cat's got sharp hearing." _ She thought before answering with a simple "Nothing..." before averting her attention to the TV screen.

"So..." She began, her eyes still glued to the screen. "I didn't catch your name." Salem sat patiently as she awaited a response which she highly doubted that she would receive.

"Train." He answered simply, much to her surprise. There was a short pause between them before Salem spoke after fully contemplating what he had said.

"Train, huh? Nice name. My name is Salem, Salem Drake." She flashed him a small yet warm smile; a very familiar sight.

Train stared at her for a moment before averting his gaze. The smile she gave him...looked just like the one from the picture. That smile...reminded him so much of Saya but at the same time it seemed less pure and more...unpleasant? No, more out of place like a crack on a window or black streak on a white canvas. It took him a while before he had come to realize that she had just told him her name. Salem...Drake. It was defiantly a very uncommon name, especially for a female. At first, he contemplated whether or not it was her real name but then again, after repeating it in his mind a few times, it did seem to suit her.

The cartoon that they had been watching had ended as the end credits began to role onto the screen. Just as they did so, Salem stood from her seat, gaining the attention of Train. She threw her arms in the air and stretched, dramatically. The various sounds of her cracking spine rang through the room as she let out a sigh of relief.

"Well, I'm going to go out for a bit. I don't really like the show that's coming up next. I'll be back soon." She stated. Not even giving Train time to speak, she scooped up her backpack and headed out the door. Just as her hand met the door handle she called back to her friend who was busy in the other room making some sort of craft with a ribbon and bell.

"I'm heading out, Eve! Be back soon!"And with that, she left the house, venturing on into the darkened forest.

The truth was, she couldn't stand being indoors for too long. It made her feel trapped and caged so every hour or two, she always felt the need to get out of whatever stuffy building she was in and get outside. That was the reason why she loved Sven's house so much. It was in the middle of nowhere and was surrounded by such beautiful nature. As Salem walked through the cluster of trees, occasionally kicking a pebble that lay in her way, she spotted a small flower that sat, solemnly by itself near a larger tree. She seemed to be stricken by its loneliness and delicate beauty.

"That would make a great sketch." She whispered to herself as she swung her bag around to her front and pulled out her sketchbook. She sat herself down and began drawing the small, white flower, being very precise in both detail and proportion. The sketch was originally meant to be a quick picture but through time she began making it a masterpiece by adding the perfect shading and even throwing in a detailed background. Little did she know that the hands of time had managed to slip past her awareness and speed up. It was only three short hours later, after she had perfected the sketch that she realized how long she had been outside.

Salem glanced at her upside-down wrist watch. Her mouth almost dropped as she noticed the many hours she had been gone.

"Crap, I was so caught up with drawing this that I lost track of time." She muttered to herself while biting her lip.

Salem closed her sketchbook and stuffed it into her bag before swinging it over her shoulder. She began to jog back the way she came until she made it back to the cabin-like house. The young sweeper stepped in the door, being welcomed by the marvellous smell of food and the cozy warmth of civilization. She inhaled deeply before making her way down the hall.

"I'm back! Sorry I was out for so long, time just kind of—"She was cut off by a over-reacting Sven whose eyes bared rings of exhaustion and his voice sharp with anger and worry.

"So you finally decided to come back too, huh?! I've been outside in the dark, searching for you and Eve for three hours! Where the hell were you?!" He yelled, though his concerned lecture had fallen on deaf ears as the young sweeper he had been yelling at passed him by and took a seat next to Train, beginning to fix herself a plate.

"Ah, food! I'm starved." She said with enthusiasm, baring a large grin. "What's got you in a twist, Sven? Come and sit down, have a bite to eat." She offered while gesturing to the vacant chair next to Eve. Sven only stared at her with a blank and disbelieving gaze as he watched his partner dig into the outset food.

"How the hell...do I put up with you?" Sven questioned to himself, yet again being completely ignored by Salem.


	4. A relaxed Witch

A relaxed Witch

_I don't own Black Cat or any of its characters_

Salem sat slouched in her car seat, listening to Train's childish complaints. He had been complaining nonstop for the long period of time that was spent in the car, driving to their destination. If it wasn't one thing it was the next. He was hungry, he was tired, he was cold, he was hot. The amount of complaints had gotten to a point where Salem had to restrain herself from kicking him in the back of the head. From the position she was in, it was not entirely impossible. It was almost hard to believe that this whiny, immature moocher was the same cold-blooded assassin that she had treated. In a mere time span of six months, he had gone from a heartless bastard to an annoying child whose food intake was equivalent to that of an entire country. Despite his drastic change, she had to admit that she found it to be a bit better having Train this way rather than how he used to be. He was much more pleasant to be around and defiantly more amusing.

The pristine-haired sweeper let out an exasperated sigh as Train began muttering yet another complaint.

"It's freezing." He said with his arms crossed.

"It's winter." Eve stated with her head in a book.

"Yeah, well why does winter have to be so damn cold?" He replied while pursing his lips.

"Yeah, well who's the genius that sold his only coat without considering the bad weather ahead?" Sven intervened while Salem remained silent. "And what are those things attached to your chest, emergency food rations?"

"He said they're meat patties." Eve answered, still seeming to read her book as she spoke.

Train grabbed hold of his jacket, showing off the circular objects attached to it.

"Pretty brilliant idea, huh?" He boasted, smugly. Salem, still keeping her thoughts on the "fashion statement" to herself, slowly shook her head in disapproval. Sven muttered something about Train's choice of attire, inaudible from where Salem sat before letting out a monstrous sneeze in Train's direction.

"Thanks for the snot bath, and you call yourself a gentleman?!" Train immediately reacted in a loud and angered manner. There was a long pause before Sven replied, acting as if the sneeze had never happened.

"You know, you're right, it is cold in here."

"Well you can at least attempt to have the heater fixed." Train spoke.

"We don't have the cash for that." Sven said as if he had spoken those words more than a million times (which he had).

"Why not? I've been helping on every one of your sweeper jobs. Where's all that money going?" Train questioned.

"Do you really want to know? It goes straight to your "eat-like-a-pig-and-live-off-Sven-for-free" fund." Sven answered. The entire time the two sweepers had been talking, Salem bared an annoyed expression over her face as she gazed out the window with half-lidded eyes. She truly had no interest whatsoever in the topic, though she did find it slightly amusing once Train growled in defeat.

"So missy, you've been pretty quiet back there." Train commented, recovering quicker than Salem had expected him to. Train turned his head to glance back in Salem's direction. Without returning his gaze, the white-haired teen spoke for the first time in, most likely, over an hour.

"Well, it's not like I have anything to say, especially since Sven confiscated my knives all because of a stupid, little accident." Upon hearing her words, Sven immediately turned on the defensive as he spoke up.

"Hey, that wasn't an accident; you threw that knife at me on purpose!" The sweeper cried, slightly louder than he needed to be.

"No I didn't, you were just in my way, besides it missed you anyways." Salem stated as she threw her arms behind her head, not peeling her eyes from the window for a second.

"So what if it missed me? I don't even know why you like to throw and fiddle with those things so much in the first place. It's dangerous and not to mention it makes you look like a criminal who's about to kill the first thing they lay eyes on." Sven said. Salem had immediately picked up on what he was referring to and scowled.

"Oh please, I swear that guy was a drunk!" Salem defended with a huff. Sven, regaining his composure, responded in a calmer manner.

"Still, it doesn't change the fact that he reported you to the police because you looked so intimidating." He spoke with a matter-of-factly tone as Salem simply sighed in a pitiful defeat. Train, who had been witnessing the argument unfold, simply chuckled in amusement as he turned in his seat to face the front.

"Guess you're a danger to society, huh missy?" The former assassin received an annoyed "yeah, yeah" from Salem who slumped even further in her seat, an action similar to that of a displeased child.

"So...Eve, what is that book you're reading?" Train asked, gaining the attention of the young blonde. Her gaze slowly tore away from the printed pages as she answered.

"It's called The Desperate Trio: They're Escape from the Pits."

"Oh yeah? Seems like a pretty hard book for you to be reading."

_Sven entered the conversation, casually. "You idiot, Eve's reading that book to find a way out of our own crap situation." He informed, receiving a simple uninterested "Whatever" in return._

"_We're not exactly a trio, though." Salem thought to herself. A small smirk slid onto her lips as she imagined the most perfect method in subtracting a member of their group. "I suppose we could always just kick Train into the pit and ditch. Technically, it would be like having five less people to feed." _

"If you have any more complaints, try voicing them after you catch this guy." Sven said as he held up the bounty poster in order for Train to see it. Said sweeper grinned as he snatched the poster from Sven's hand.

"Ha, this Igor Planter guy? I could catch him in my sleep." Train spoke with cockiness laced in his tone.

"So can I." Spoke Eve in her usual monotone, Sven, Train and even Salem sending a glance in her direction. "I will catch him...if we catch him, we get a reward." Train chuckled in reply.

"You're right about that but you aren't getting the money. How 'bout you leave this scumbag to me, that way you can hang out with your buddies Sven and missy here and read your books?" Train suggested while glancing back at Eve.

"How about a challenge? We'll see who gets to him first." Eve spoke, her book still propped in her grip as if she were reading it while talking.

Salem pushed herself up in her seat so that she was now sitting in it properly. A wolfish grin tugged at the tips of her mouth, displaying the spike of interest that this suggestion brought to her.

"A challenge, huh? Now that's my kind of game. Sounds good to me!" She exclaimed, stealing the words right out of Trains mouth.

Train's attention switched to Salem with a displeased look written on his face, most likely because of the fact that she spoke his line before he could.

"Alright, then it's me vs. you vs. Train. Whoever catches the bounty first, wins." Eve explained as Sven muttered something along the lines of "Here we go again." to himself.

Train and Salem both grinned in response, displaying their agreement of the challenge. The three of them (especially Salem and Train) had been challenging each other nonstop for the past six months. Most of the time, the challenges were revolved around catching bounties and collecting the reward, usually the rules referring to a race of who could catch the bounty first. Up to this point, the score was as follows:

**Train: 9 wins**

**Salem: 9 wins**

**Eve: 8 wins**

In total, they had challenged each other to 26 challenges. Eve was only one behind Train and Salem but the fact that they were neck and neck in scores, brought upon a slight itch of irritation that would never leave Salem alone. Salem was competitive by nature and would never back down from a challenge. Because of that fact, being in a tie with someone only lodged itself in her mind, pounding as hard as it can until that tie is broken_._

"_If I win this challenge, I'll be one point ahead of Train and therefore, I'll be in the lead." Salem thought with a smirk, only to be foiled as the memory of her missing knives jabbed into her mind. Without her weapons, Salem was completely vulnerable and helpless which posed an immense problem for her already planned victory. A small scowl swept over the teen's features as she contemplated on what could be done about the matter._

"_I suppose I could always just...ask? No, no, Sven won't give them up _that_ easy. Maybe I could...no. Damn it." _She let out a small breathe of air as she crossed her arms in front of her chest. There was no way in hell that Salem was going to allow Train to win this challenge, though she didn't quite mind allowing Eve to take possession of this victory. After all, Eve was a point behind them and Salem would feel bad if Eve did not get her fair share of credit for the sweeper jobs (despite the fact that she had already caught quite a number of bounties on her own). Just as the young sweeper prepared to let out another exasperated sigh, a brilliant thought crossed her mind.

Judging by appearance, Igor Planter seemed to be a rather normal civilian. The news they had picked up on him stated that he was a gardener who had a strong passion for the beauty and protection of nature. With a story such as that, Salem probably wouldn't even need her knives. Perhaps this wouldn't be such a tough bounty after all.

Just as Salem had finally managed to relax herself back into her seat, the vehicle's speed began to decrease until it rolled into a slow stop, the exhaust coughing rapidly. Salem raised a brow once the car came to a full halt, scooting back up in her seat.

"What's going on? Why are we stopping?" She questioned only to receive a sigh from her partner as he stepped out.

The other three inside soon followed suit to see what they had stopped for. When they exited the car, they entered stood on a long, dirt road that seemed to stretch on for miles, forwards and back. The road was surrounded by many leafless trees that had become naked due to the cold winds. Train glanced up at the large road sign with a skeptical look. The words "**Desburg 3m**" could be read in white bold.

"One of the guys that escaped from prison lives _here_?" Train said in disbelief.

"Apparently. I guess he must be one of those guys who wants to forget about his crimes and live peacefully...but, then again, I could be wrong. He might not even _live_ here. Maybe he's just staying here to get some action or wreak havoc on people?" Salem said, more in a joking way than anything else.

Train glanced back at her, his skeptical expression still in place. "C'mon, you really think that this guy looks like the sort of person who would be doing any of that stuff? And in some boring old town, for that matter?" Salem shrugged her shoulders with a grin.

"Hey, looks can be deceiving." She spoke, ending her sentence with a slight chuckle.

"Well, Annette's in tell said that he lives here and her stuff is usually dead on." Sven added.

"It's still three miles to town." Eve stated whilst looking ahead.

"Three miles? That'll take forever!" Train exclaimed in protest.

"Oh, don't complain. I'm sure you could use the exorcise." Salem spoke, jokingly with a grin. Train looked back at her with slight annoyance sparking in his eyes.

"What was that?" He asked. The teen sweeper chuckled in reply as she kicked a stray rock from the ground down the road.

Sven let out a sigh as he crouched down slightly, placing his hands on the steering wheel while still outside the vehicle. "Help me push..." A large grin found its way on Sven's face as he chuckled through another statement. "'Cause we're out of gas."

As if on cue, the muffler coughed once again to prove its death. Salem's lips fell to a straight line while, much to her dismay; she crouched as well and grabbed hold of the car on her side. The four of them began to push the car down the road but the experience did not run so smoothly. Between the taunting coughing of the exhaust and Train's complaints and grumbles, Salem wasn't sure which one to kick. There had also happened to be steeply uneven areas of the rural road and a few small hills which posed a major hardship for the four of them.

It had taken them a while, but the four had finally managed to push the drained car all the way down the dirt road to Desburg. They made their way to the diner closest to the spot that they had decided to leave the car for the time being. They filed into the restaurant (of course, Train being the first) and were seated at a round table. Both Train and Sven slumped over in their seats with a long sigh.

"I'm pooped." Sven said, chin rested on the tabletop.

"We should hurry up and catch this guy." Eve spoke straight to the point in a matter of seconds.

Though Salem admired Eve's dedication and initiative, she had to admit that it was only fair for them to get at least 30 minutes rest.

"Igor Planter the forest ranger?" Train groaned, the poster in hand. "He seems like a really boring guy, living a really boring life so why do we need to rush ourselves?"

"I'm glad to see that your eager to catch this guy, Eve but I kind of agree with Train. I doubt he's out there on some giant killing spree right now so let's just take this to relax a bit. It was a long drive after all." Salem bud in as she stretched her limbs and positioning herself in a more comfortable manner.

"Yeah, and we don't even have a lead on where he's hiding yet so let's catch our breaths." Sven said, further proving the point.

"Fine, I'll go get him myself." Said the young blonde as she reached her hand out to grab hold of the wanted poster.

Train pulled the poster back, out of her reach as he spoke. "I don't think so, princess, you're crazy if you think you can pull this off all by yourself.

"You think I'm a princess?" Eve spoke with a tone of flatter laced in her voice.

Sven began to chuckle along with Train, muttering words along the lines of "That's a good one, Train". Salem could no longer contain the small smile that snaked onto her lips as she witnessed the displeased expression from the blonde sweeper.

"Don't let that little comment bother you so much, Eve. I'm sure you could probably find a boyfriend faster than Train can eat away all our money." Salem joked as she leaned her elbows onto the edge of the wood table.

Her comment had not gone unnoticed, however. Train's eyebrows knit together as he murmured a response directed to the white-haired sweeper. "Hey..."

It was not long after that a young waitress sauntered towards their table, wearing a friendly smile as she readied her pad and pen. "You guys ready to order?"

Her nonchalant voice gained the attention of the four sweepers. Sven inspected her for a moment before speaking.

"Wait a minute..." The waitress glanced towards Sven. Her smile slowly dropped as they both seemed to come to realization of something. The two suddenly screamed, somewhat in a way of remembrance.

"You're from that place in Brockio* City." Sven stated, pointing a finger towards her as she pointed her pen.

"And you're the one who skipped out on your bill." She spoke with a pang of cheekiness as a grin began to form on her features. The waitress' words caused Sven to abruptly stand and speak in his defence, much to Train, Eve and Salem's confusion. The speed of his action managed to startle Salem, causing her to jump and her dark eyes to snap wide.

"It's been like, six months. Nice to see you again." She spoke, her voice seeming to always carry the ghost of a giggle. Sven settled back into his seat as she spoke.

"So, what're you doing here?" Sven asked, appearing somewhat interested at first glance.

The waitress smiled as she glanced off into the distance with a dreamy look. She began explaining her story of events that had occurred during the past six months. Salem had only bothered to listen to the first 3 seconds of her story before scanning the menu for anything of interest. Once Salem had managed to quickly skim through the selection of food and drinks, everyone else had ordered, leaving her to be the last.

"I'll take a latte with whipped cream. Oh and some cinnamon on top, as well." She requested as she closed the menu and placed it in front of her.

The waitress suddenly slammed her palms onto the table, screaming: "Listen to me!" She regained her posture after a moment, a stern look still lingering on her pale face. The waitress examined the four customers before her with somewhat of a skeptical gaze.

"Shirt and tie, white hair, flea collar with a bell and a suit with an eye patch. What're you guys, like traveling performance artists or something?" She commented.

Salem's ocean eyes narrowed as she grumbled in response, unintentionally adding a slight overdose of tone. "Not to be rude, but can you just go get us our food?"

The waitressed "hmphed" as she made her way back into the restaurant's kitchen. Salem rested her chin on her palm.

"So, when _do_ we plan on catching this Igor?" She inquired, the question mostly directed towards Sven. Said sweeper exhaled loudly.

"Not you too. Look, after we eat, we'll start searching for some leads on our bounty but until then why can't we _all_ just relax?" Sven spoke with half-lidded eyes.

"Yeah, yeah. Speaking of that, can I have my knives back now?" Salem pestered, clear annoyance peaking from her voice. She was no longer going to hold in the displeasure of not having her knives in her possesion.

"Not yet. I'll give them back to you when we set out to catch our bounty. Besides, if I gave them to you now you'd probably only get us kicked out." Sven muttered the last part of his sentence but it did not go unheard be Salem.

"Hey, I heard that!" She exclaimed, darting a death glare towards her partner.

"How'd you guys even become partners anyway?" Asked Train who did not seem to show any apparent interest in the question he was asking. Salem's death glare disappeared almost as fast as it had come, being replaced by a large, wolfish grin.

"That...is a story for another time." Salem replied, sparking confusion in the former assassin who simply raised a brow.

He opened his mouth to speak but was interrupted by the slamming of plates on the table. The waitress placed each of their orders onto the table in a scattered manner, signifying that she most likely couldn't remember who ordered what. Salem stretched her hand across the table, gripping her latte by the rim of the mug and carrying it back to her. She set it down in front of herself and licked off a large portion of the mountain of whipped cream. Salem brought the cup up to her lips and took a small sip at first. Once she was sure that it wouldn't burn her, Salem began taking gulps at a time.

"These things are disgusting." Train complained while poking at one of the vegetables on his plate.

"Vegetables are good for you." Eve said, sternly.

"It's better than nothing at all, so don't complain." Salem added, peaking over her cup. Train began endlessly stuffing any food in front of him into his mouth (which seemed to grow large enough to fit an entire plate). Salem silently sighed into her mug at the sight before her. She could swear that he didn't even take the time to _chew_ his food.

"Well aren't _you_ the attractive one." Salem added, every one of her words dripping with sarcasm.

"I don't get you, Train. You complain about the food yet you continue shoving down the hole under your nose." Sven stated a complete and utter truth that no-one could deny.

"Hey..." Came a feminine voice from the end of the table. Salem brought her gaze towards the source along with everyone else (except for Train of course, who was still too preoccupied by his copious amounts of food piled in front of him).

The voice had come from a young woman, baring silver hair and crystal eyes."You know, I thought I'd be running into you again but not _here_." Her crystal orbs trailed from Sven to Salem until it finally landed on Train who still remained engulfed in his passion for food by shoving every bit of it down his throat.

Within little time, Sven and the woman had sat themselves at another table, leaning in closely to each other. Salem could pick up on their moving lips but any words they spoke were inaudible from where she sat. Curiosity and suspicion had sparked within her as she paid close attention to their mouths.

"Who is that woman...hmm. I wonder what they're talking about over there." Salem muttered to herself, her suspicious gaze locked onto the two. Her intense concentration was shattered by Train's voice as he requested more food from the waitress who, in turn, chucked a boot in his direction, hitting him right in the face. The impact caused his head to fall backwards as his mouth shut.

"_Well I suppose that's _one_ way to make him quiet."_ Salem thought to herself as a thin smile cracked onto her face. Salem slid her plate, still retaining a reasonable portion of food, across the table in Train's direction with a slight sigh. He brought his attention to the food presented to him, all of his excite and enthusiasm returning.

"Aw yeah!" Train exclaimed before proceeding to scarf down Salem's leftovers.

Salem's half-hearted; ghost of a smile could not resist curling into a large grin as she witnessed Train's great enjoyment in eating food. Salem couldn't take full credit for being some generous, giving woman, however. The dish she had half enjoyed was actually one of Train's many food items that she had sneakily taken possession of when he wasn't paying attention. So in truth, the meal was Train's to begin with but it didn't change the fact that she still felt a small spark of pleasure in seeing her partners happy.

It did not take him long before Train had completely devoured the leftovers that were given to him and based on his expression; there was defiantly room for more. As if on cue, the waitress sauntered towards the table carrying a large tray that appeared to be holding an entire pile of some sort of food. She slammed the serving platter onto the table in front of Train.

"On the house!" Train's expression perked up immediately at the sight of food but dropped almost as fast as it had appeared once he realized what had actually been served to him.

"Bread crusts?" Train questioned, holding one of the crusts up in disbelief.

"Hey, you get what you pay for." The waitress snapped before stalking off to some other part of the restaurant.

Salem felt slightly idiotic for believing that they had actually been provided with free food that wasn't just a pile of crap. But unfortunately, thanks to their terrible habit of not paying their tabs thanks to a certain _someone_ who always seemed to eat away their rewards. Salem had suggested tying Train to a chair and proceeding to eat in front of him in order to teach him a lesson but Sven declined. He explained that it was in fact, annoying that Train constantly ate so much but as a gentleman, he would never resort to doing such a cruel thing. Luckily, Eve agreed that it would be both an effective and necessary tactic to teach Train not to eat so much.

"Igor" Came the voice of their overly cheery waitress, who in turn drew the attention of everyone except for Train, still absorbed in his bread crust feast.

"You actually know this guy? W-where can I find him?" Sven exclaimed, almost disbelievingly.

"Wait a minute, you're telling me that we're going after the same guy?!" The woman with Sven said, holding up the bounty poster for Igor.

"Apparently so, Igor Planter's our bounty." Sven briefly explained before turning his head back towards the waitress for more questioning. "So where is he? If you don't tell me his location then I won't be able to pay for all this food."

The ginger's slightly clueless expression twisted into a scowl as she growled a reply.

"Desburg botanical gardens."

"Botanical garden?" Sven repeated for clarification. The waitress shoved her nose into the air in a somewhat snooty manner as she answered.

"That's right...and you better not try to stiff me this time, mister."

"Hey...where'd Salem and Eve go?" Sven asked, finally taking notice of the vacant seats.

"Huh? Oh, yeah...they didn't leave a note." Train stated, checking his jacket as though there was a chance they had slipped one in his pocket without his notice.

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"Are you sure it's okay to leave without saying anything?" Eve asked as the two girls walked away from the restaurant that already lay far in the distance by then.

"Yeah, they'll find us eventually...besides, this way we can get a head start and win this little challenge." Salem brushed off the blonde's concerns as she threw her arms in a stretch. Afterwards, the pristine-haired sweeper ceased walking and stood still, waiting for Eve to take notice.

Said blonde turned her head with slight confusion surfacing on her features.

"Are you not coming?" She asked.

"Nah, I'll catch up with you later. I've got something to do first." Salem spoke a farewell before stalking off in a separate direction.

She made her way to the lifeless car and walked around to the trunk. Salem was surely lucky that the car's trunk could be opened with a key since it was one of those older models. She pulled out the hairpin she had been using to pull her bangs to the side, out of her hair. Her dark hair dropped over her eyes, obscuring her view. Salem huffed them back to the side in order to see what she was doing. The sweeper jammed the pin into the keyhole and proceeded to turn it, fiddle with it and jiggle it inside the lock until the trunk popped open, revealing her beautiful knives as one of its contents.

"Ah, there you are." She cooed as she slipped the pin back into placed and grabbed her knives.

Salem stood up and slammed the trunk closed before sliding her weapons into her holsters. Once her knives were back in place, Salem felt a feeling of great security, one of which she had not been experiencing while separated from her only source of protection.

"Well then, now that that's taken care of I can go win this challenge...that is...if Eve hasn't taken care of it first." Salem muttered the last part, suddenly regretting allowing the young blonde to go ahead.

Salem ran in the direction of the botanical garden as fast as she could without exerting too much energy. Once there, Salem slowed to a walking pace as she entered. Upon entry, two hushed voices could be heard, speaking amongst themselves. Salem stopped dead in her tracks, noticing that the two voices belonged to Eve and the bounty (or at least, who she assumed to be the bounty, considering the two were too far a away to make out any distinctive features). She narrowed her eyes as she attempted to concentrate on what was being said while still remaining unnoticed.

"So..." Spoke the other voice. "When does your friend plan on coming in, it's very rude to eavesdrop."

Salem's ocean-blue eyes widened as Igor's head snapped in her direction. Once she recovered from her slight surprise, Salem's eyes narrowed in suspicion as she wearily stepped down the entrance stairs and walked towards the table.

"Terribly sorry to intrude." She spoke, her words obviously empty, holding no meaning or expression of emotion.

"It's alright. I prefer educating more than one person on the wonder of nature. Come; let me show you an example of their beauty." He spoke, motioning to the wood table that sat, surrounded by countless flowers.

Both sweepers took a seat at the table along with Igor. He grabbed the sketchpad that had previously rested on the table's surface and opened it. He began scribbling a sketch onto the white paper as he spoke.

"There's nothing more gorgeous in the world than flowers. It's true, their sole purpose is beauty. Every season they make incredible transformations, see? These are my absolute favourite." He held out the sketch book in front of Salem and Eve, revealing a talented sketch of a flower. Both sweepers paid no heed to the drawing, however. They paid more attention to the signature of "_Igor Planter_" that was written in the corner.

"Igor Planter." Eve read aloud. "Igor, that is your name, is that right?" She asked, seeking confirmation.

"Huh...yes that's right."

"I found you." Eve stated as she stood from her seat.

"_We _found him" Salem corrected, remaining slouched in her seat as she crossed one leg over the other.

"Are you playing tag?" Igor questioned, a slight smile of disbelief surfacing on his face.

"You are it."

"I don't think I've played tag in over thirty years." He spoke, his smile fading once Eve held up the bounty poster.

"What?" He said, clearly unable to comprehend the fact that he was a bounty.

"We're what you call "Sweepers"...and _you're _our bounty." Salem intervened, her nonchalant face becoming serious as she stood up.

"Wait, do you really intend to arrest me? But I haven't done anything wrong." He spoke, innocence laced in his voice.

"Well if you're so innocent, then why is your face on a _bounty poster_?" Salem thumbed to said poster as she placed her free hand on her hip.

"You murdered a lot of people." Eve answered, indirectly.

"I was just dealing with some hikers that were _destroying_ the forest; they carelessly stepped on innocent plants and plucked flowers from the ground." Igor defended, a pained expression molding his face.

"I'm sorry to say this...but there's _never_ a good enough reason to take lives." Salem stated, never peeling her eyes from the trembling man.

"Are you the type of people...who would kill a defenceless plant?" Igor spoke in an angered tone, causing Eve to step back slightly. Salem, however, stood her ground, not willing to express any hint of intimidation.

"It doesn't matter how many plants they killed...because I have a feeling that you killed just as many humans. So tell me, Igor...how many lives have _you_ taken?" Salem spoke in a challenging manner, purposely provoking him in order to prove her point.

Salem could tell that with every word she spoke, Igor became more and more tense, sharing similar traits to a lion preparing to pounce on its prey. His actions caused Eve to take yet another step back, a small flower being crushed by her heel.

"Do not step on the flowers!" He yelled, snapping his head up to reveal a face twisted in anger, his kind demeanor completely missing. "You two may look like cute little girls but I can see the monsters that you _really_ are."

Igor pulled a strange bottle from his pocket and popped the cap, chugging down its contents. Though Salem had no idea what it was he had just ingested, she knew that it couldn't be good if he was drinking it at a time such as now.

Salem slid her left leg back, taking on a battle-ready position as she drew her knives. After drinking from the bottle, Igor's body suddenly grew to three times his original size, baring large muscles that no human could naturally obtain. He let out a loud, screeching scream as his body had transformed. Salem gritted her teeth as her brow furrowed.

"It is my duty to annihilate anyone who destroys nature!" Igor screeched as he produced purple-coloured smog to float in the air.

Just as he had produced it, large, thick vines came bursting from the ground with a thundering rumble sound. Salem glanced towards her partner in concern and shock. "Eve!" She called but just as she did so, a number of vines came hurdling towards her only to be sliced right through with her knives. As Salem cut through the long, tentacle-like plants, another group came from behind her while three more sprung from beneath her feet. Salem leapt to the side and threw her left knife at a few of the vines. Just as she landed firmly on her feet, a large quantity of vines sprung from the ground and wrapped themselves around Salem's neck and forearm, pulling her off of the ground. Once they wound themselves tightly around her, Salem's grip loosened, causing her to drop her knife to the ground.

"Urgh, No!" She gasped before clasping onto the vine to prevent it from breaking her neck. Two other plants tangled around her legs to further restrict her movement and wriggling.

"The plants are angry with you. Can you hear them crying?" Igor spat. "Can you?!"

The vines tightened even further, Salem gasping for air as they did so. The sound of Eve yelping in pain infiltrated Salem's ears as she cringed and choked for any air that she could inhale. The lack of oxygen was beginning to catch up to her as Salem's fingers became numb, her vision blurring together in a big mash of colours and shapes. Her hearing began to fail her just the same; the only things her useless ears could pick up on were the muffled mumbles of the other two people in the garden.

Salem could feel her eyelids turn too led as it became a struggle for her to keep them open. Just as she began to slip out of consciousness, the screeching sound of a bullet piercing through the air echoed throughout the dome. Suddenly the tight vines unravelled themselves and released Salem, resulting in her falling to the ground, roughly. She sat on her knees, clutching her red throat as she gasped and coughed in a desperate attempt to replenish her oxygen supply.

"What was that?!" Igor yelled as his head shot in the direction that the gunshot had come from.

"A sweeper." A familiar voice answered. "Sorry to keep you guys waiting."

Salem, still heavily breathing, dragged her attention towards the source of the voice. Just as she had guessed, it was Train who had shot that bullet. Despite Salem's strong sense of pride and urge to win the challenge, she had to admit to herself that she was kind of glad to see Train.

"I don't care who you are, you'll make excellent feed for my garden." Igor said as he ingested the last of the liquid from the bottle. "Now, show me what you've got." He bellowed, his body curdling and twisting into some other strange, ivory form. The newly spawned vines wrapped around Train's legs but went almost unnoticed by him as he pulled his gun out in front of him, readying to shoot.

"You just made a huge mistake, pal."

"Do you like flowers?" Igor's deep voice growled as green branch-like tentacles slithered from all parts of his body.

"What'd you say?" Train said, lowering his gun slightly as he quirked a brow.

Just as he had done so, a large purple flower grew from the ground, releasing toxic smog, causing Train to throw his arm over his face in an attempt to prevent it from choking him of his breathe. Both Eve and Salem called Train's name in unison, attempting to run to his aid but both were restrained by the pesky weeds that twirled around their bodies.

"This is the end of the line for the three of you." Igor cackled, menacingly.

"Release them!" Came Sven's unmistakeable voice as he rolled into the scene (puns XD) and whipped out a gun.

His efforts fell in vain, however as each and every bullet his gun shot was deflected by a vine that would absorb the damage itself.

"No! Don't sh—" Salem's plea was cut off once a green plant-tentacle slid over her mouth, preventing any words from being spoken.

It did not take him long before Sven had finally realized what message Salem had tried to get across and ceased his shooting.

"Ugh, what the hell are you doing, Sven?" The silver-haired woman (the woman that Salem _still_ did not know the name of) snapped as she alone, continued to fire bullets.

"Stop shooting!"

"Huh, how come?" She questioned, only to be ignored by Sven as he focused on Train.

As Train stood, motionlessly with his eyes closed, Salem screamed out to him but her words only jumbled together, becoming a mess of mispronounced syllables from the vine covering her mouth.

"Jshtsmootnalfready, yvoewbaserd!" This translated into "Just shoot already, you bastard!" Just as she had spoken, Train's golden eyes snapped open, abruptly before he pulled his gun in front of him and sent a bullet on a straight course to the necklace that dangled around Igor's neck. Once the metallic bullet shattered the medallion, it zipped through and pierced Igor's rough, vegetation-like skin. Dark, green liquid spewed from the open wound as he groaned in pain. The vines loosened and became incredibly weak, allowing both Eve and Salem to tear them off. Just as everyone else began to relax, Salem's muscles did not release their tension. Her eyes narrowed, sending a sharp and intimidating gaze towards their bounty.

"_There's no way it's that easy..." _

Suddenly, Igor burst into a loud, booming cackle as his skin forced the bullet from his wound that Train had inflicted.

"A bullet won't stop me. My body is invincible; nothing can stand in my way!"

Salem's eyes widened in alert as she stood in a defensive position, ready to both block and attack if needed. Much to her surprise, Train simply snickered as he spoke in a voice dripping with confidence.

"Heh, you got another thing coming, man." Salem's guard dropped as she raised a brow at her partner's choice of words.

Just as she had done so, Igor's vine minions whipped across the ground, in which Train dodged with ease. Salem was snapped back into reality as the vine-whip came flying towards her. Salem attempted to leap out of the vine's attack range but her plan was foiled by an arm wrapping around her waist and throwing her onto someone's shoulder. The action had caught her off guard yet again which in turn, resulted in a delayed reaction.

"H-hunh?"

"I'm going to make you all pay!" Igor yelled. After speaking, his shoulder wound suddenly poured more green fluid from it, somewhat resembling a faucet. "Urgh, damn that hurt...that's impossible, the potion is...wearing off. S-someone please help me!" He yelled as his skin deteriorated and decayed, practically melting off of his body. He voiced one last booming, thunder-like scream of agony before fully transforming into a tree.

It was finally done. They could all relax now and recover from the eventful battle. Salem's softened gaze fell upon the large tree that Igor Planter had become. She parted her lips and out came a small, almost solemn sigh. It only took a short moment for her to realize that she had yet to be released by Train who still held her firmly on his shoulder.

"Well, Princess...looks like I won." Train spoke.

"You did not win, he self-destructed." Said blonde replied in a snappy manner.

"Excuse me?! I saved you guys!"

"You were in just as much danger as Salem and I."

"No I wasn't, I was in control the whole time—GYAH!" Salem gripped a handful of Train's brown hair and gave it rough tug before speaking very slowly and menacingly, being sure that Train did not miss a single syllable.

"Traaain, put me _down_ please."

She tugged on the fistful of hair a few times more before the former assassin finally gave in.

"Ah, ah, okay, okay, I'm putting you down!" He quickly allowed her to drop to the floor with a loud "thump" in order to massage the area that she had pulled. The pristine-haired sweeper stood, anger clearly flaring in her naturally blue orbs as she grabbed hold of Train's ear, ignoring his constant protests.

"Why did you come here?!" Salem yelled, clearly displeased in having to be "saved" but mostly because of the fact that she had not been able to win the challenge.

"Why do you think?! For the challenge, of course, which _I_ won!"

"Yeah right! I think we can all agree that this round was a _tie_."

"Yes, I agree." Eve chimed in.

"What? No way!"

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"What? You call _this_ a meal?" Train complained as he examined his plate full of vegetables.

"Sorry, Train, that's all we can afford. I can't cash in a bounty for a man that's already exploded." Sven explained rather calmly.

"You should seriously consider hiring a financial advisor." Spoke the same waitress that had served them previously (whom she had introduced herself as Tanya).

"Shut your trap, will ya?"

"No, Sven, she's right. I think we could really use one." Salem admitted as she proceeded to poke her slice of lemon further into her water with the straw.

"Well if you're in that much of a bind, then why not help me out on _my_ job?" Rinslet offered as she padded a napkin onto her thin lips in a mannerly fashion, adding a wink to the end of her sentence.

_Entry #29_

_Dear Diary,_

_I know I haven't really written to you for a few months now, I've just been so caught up in my job as a sweeper and couldn't find the time. Basically, our latest bounty was some tree-hugger named Igor Planter. Train, Eve and I challenged each other to see who could get to him first. This job would have been the tie breaker between me and Train but he just had to come and "save" me when I was just about to take that guy down. So thanks to Train, we had to call the damn thing a tie. But anyways, that silver-haired lady that knew Sven, offered us to help her on her little quest for some strange drink called "Spirit water". The whole thing doesn't sound all that bad but I'll be honest here, I really don't like that woman. Something about her just makes me uneasy but Sven seems to trust her so I won't say anything but that doesn't mean I'm going to let my guard down._

_Sincerely, Salem_

**A/N: *Yeah I've got no clue how to spell that XD**

**Anyways, really hope you enjoyed and didn't find it TOO long; I just really love to write. Reviews are quite nice, if you have the time :3**


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